On My Table: More Bead Embroidery!

Back on January 19th, I blogged about the bead embroidery piece I was working on for the bead cruise Alice in Wonderland-themed party.  Here's where I left off...

After playing around (adding and ripping out with massive frustration) with some fringe design and bail designs I finally finished the pendant...

This piece challenged me because I had not made this type of bail before.  I wanted to do a ladder-stitch bail but let's just say it wasn't being cooperative.  

After I finished the Mad Hatter, I was feeling full of Wonderland love so I decided to start an Alice pendant...

I don't wear pink often but this cabochon was perfect for all the pink seed beads I had in my stash.

I wanted to break out from just doing rows of backstitch over and over again.  I spoke (lots of texting, actually) with Jenny several times and she encouraged me and gave me lots of suggestions to help me step out of my comfort zone.

I made several mistakes along the way but they were all good lessons to learn.

Now I'm at the point where I need to decide on fringe and a bail design. Since I'm snowed/iced in, I'll be working on that today.

Because I can't seem to work on just one thing at a time, I also started on this piece, using my own porcelain seashell cabochon.  

I've been waiting forever to use these green and sea foam seed beads!

Here's the top portion all finished.  I made a few little errors on the side but practice makes perfect!

I knew this pendant needed more to it so I dug up this tiny fossil sand dollar that Jenny had gifted me and stitched it up with coordinating beads.

After connecting the two pieces, this is how the pendant currently looks.  I had tried adding a tiny bit of fringe to the bottom but was unhappy with all the results.  I'm going to go ahead and decide on a bail design and wrap this pendant up to wear on the cruise.  

If you have tried the basics and want to take the next step, call Jenny....OR pick up a copy of Dimensional Bead Embroidery by Jamie Cloud Eakin.  This is the perfect book to help expand your bead embroidery skills.  

Happy Beading!

Winter Formal Bling Bling

My husband and I haven't attended one of his work holiday parties in about 6 years.  This year we decided to go and of course, I had to make earrings to go with my dress.

I picked out this pretty teal dress with black velvet burnout from The Limited.  I could have made some quick and easy beaded earrings but I thought I'd practice my bead embroidery.

The plan was to use some of my porcelain cabochons but I wasn't happy with how they came out.  I used a pair of onyx cabs instead.  I made the earrings over the course of week, spending about an hour each night adding a row at a time.

The seed beads are a mix of aqua, teal, purple, black and green hues.  I used black Nymo thread for everything and black ultrasuede on the back.  The earwires are niobium (so friendly on my sensitive lobes) and made by Marti Brown.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out!  I finally feel like I have a good grasp on backstitch and am ready to move on and try some more advanced techniques.

Are you attending any holiday parties?  If so, what jewelry did you make for them?

Happy Beading!

Diana P.
Suburban Girl Studio LLC